Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Lifecurse "ELYSIUM" Album Review

LIFECURSE

LIFECURSE is a 5 piece METAL band out of ASHEVILLE NC that perform high level , entertaining shows and delivers to their fans a consistent barrage of gotta have METAL. Once again that has been achieved with the release of their new album ELYSIUM. It is the followup to their extremely successful album PROPHECIES that heralded numerous hits. The album was close to being released a few months back but after loosing one of their long time guitarist they went back into the studio to re-record the tracks with their new guitarist ( David Gantt ). This band gives 100% in everything they do, no short cuts and it shows in their music. With age comes maturity, not only in the artist's themselves, but in a bands sound and ELYSIUM'S sound has matured to a level that will surely reward thousands of fans to LIFECURSE for their efforts. You will also find more clean vocals on this album from RODDY who has a great voice and they use his talents throughout the album. If you are reading this review and do not know who this band is,trust me,grab this new album ELYSIUM and you will find a band that will never let you down!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRACK by TRACK REVIEW BELOW

BLACK GENESIS - As the intro to the album starts off this journey it brings the anticipation to levels that almost exceeds the legal limit of adrenaline a body can handle. You are ready to explode, waiting for WILL and RODDYS vocals and the band to fully blast in on the second track. This is a buildup track and it lives to the hype. Although short it serves it purpose. Every time I hear this intro I imagine the band opening up their set in darkness to it. Then the lights come on at the end and they tear the stage up.

DEAD WEATHER - A little funky guitar play gets this song going before the band comes in blasting with full aggression. Will starts the song off almost with an AMON AMARTH feel of growls and you can here that throughout this song. I can honestly say this song has one of the best chorus's I have ever heard in a LIFECURSE song. The fans will definitely be vocal when hearing this song LIVE. It is hear on this track you quickly notice how the bands sound has evolved into something special.

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR -Will's vocals are superb and Roddys sound is a work of art on this song, but this song is not about one or the other. It is about the dual threat that this band now has and the blend they have when they are singing together. They are parts in this song where the two have screams and cleans balancing out in perfect harmony, its incredible to hear and not every band can do this simultaneously and make it work. Not to be outdone, the band play is heroic in this song and you can just imagine JARED ( DRUMMER ) saying at the end of this song "WHEW" that was fun.

OCEANS OF SPACE - The GUITAR work in this song is phenomenal and towards the end of the song you get a few moments of their play along with some drum work that is out of this world. It is a section of the track that just feels soothing and you wish that it would just go on for ever. Lifecurse is not about one person in this band. The talents that each person brings to this album is what makes it great and this song brings out the best in all of them.

HADEAN - When an album is good it goes by fast and getting to the halfway point of this album comes in a hurry. At the center of this monster brings this BEAST. This was one of my favorites and the sensational guitar play is AWESOME. It is faced paced and then slows down slightly towards the end with a nice breakdown by the band, before being finished off with some punishing screams at the end.

PARTICLES - This is a short intro going into Graveyard Fields that gives the feeling of seeing spirits rise from the graves. It helps build up to the KILLER song that is fixing to be unleashed.

GRAVEYARD FIELDS - A true MYSTIC MASTERPIECE, AMAZING, THE LIFE OF THE ALBUM, however you want to look at it, this is the song the rest of the album feeds off. I never knew you could feel true emotion in SCREAMS, but this song will leave you with chills. Some of the best screams ever recorded on a song can be found right here. The band released this song early and I knew when I heard it that waiting to hear the rest of the album would seem like forever.

GHOSTS OF SAITAMA - This was the first official single released from the album. It features a guest appearance by ADAM CODY, the vocalist from ( WRETCHED ). Straight out the gate it is HEAVY as HELL only to be balanced by some well placed cleans. Pounding Drum beats brings this song to life, while strong guitar play feeds it energy. I will also say it was an honor having this track on The Pit Unsigned's compilation "STRUGGLES FROM THE PIT" that can be found here : http://thepitunsigned.bandcamp.com/ .

LIGHTDRIVER - This is the heaviest song on the album and you hear a lot of the older sound from the Prophecies album in this song, which I fully enjoy. Screams and growls dominate this whole song. The pace is fast and from what I have been reading across the web, it has become a fan favorite. At this point most people cannot find one true song they like the most, cause the album is so good,but this song is always mentioned. If you ever wanted to know what sound the band evolved from this would be it.

PATTERNS - There are many albums by this point that have began to loose their steam, but not with this one. Patterns help solidify this album as one of the greatest of all time. This song brings back together everything that made this album so UNIQUE. With WILL and RODDYS vocals putting their stamp as a duo to be mentioned with all the great METALCORE bands in the world, the instrument play of the rest of the band works their magic to create another powerful song.